1. Technical Field
The invention disclosed herein generally relates to a method for transmitting a message from a telephone caller to a telephone call recipient, wherein message transmission takes place during the call set up procedure. More particularly, the invention relates to a method of the above type wherein the message is defined by a sequence of alphanumeric characters that are pressed, dialed or otherwise entered using the caller's phone, just prior to entering the recipient's phone number.
2. Description of Related Art
It is very common for a person to receive a telephone call at a time when he or she would very much prefer not to answer the call. For example, the person may be in a meeting or may be about to sit down to dinner. Under these circumstances, the person would typically want to answer the phone call only if the call was known to be urgent.
At present, caller identification (ID) systems are available that can provide a recipient with the name or identity of the caller, before an incoming call is answered. Such systems may provide only the caller's phone number, if the caller is unknown. However, the caller's name and phone number may still be insufficient information to enable a called recipient to decide whether or not to answer an inconveniently timed call. Accordingly, it would be useful to provide the call recipient with additional information, such as a brief reference indicating the purpose of the call.